QuoteReplyTopic: The interconnected modern prog scene? Posted: June 15 2013 at 06:46

I've never really listened to The Tangent, but for some reason today I was reading about their upcoming album (Le Sacre du Travail) on these forums, and noticed that Rikard Sjoblom of Beardfish is contributing spoken voice- a cute little response to Alex Tillison providing a spoken intro to Beardfish's The Void last year, one would assume.

It got me thinking about the apparent interconnectedness of the core of the modern prog scene, where a great many musicians seem to have a large number of collaborative links and projects with members of other bands, ultimately exemplified by such 'supergroups' as The Tangent, and perhaps more so than in other genres. Even more particularly, this includes, or even features, members of the classic bands and all their projects becoming involved with the projects of the modern prog scene (ie, David Jackson in The Tangent; the various forms of Fripp/Wilson collaboration) or vice versa (Jon Davison of Glass Hammer joining Yes), bringing together musicians of different eras in this kind of creative coalescence.

This largely applies only to the symphonic/eclectic core of the scene (as opposed to RIO/metal/post rock, etc subgenres, and regardless progressive music as we broadly define it doesn't have a delineated scene per se), but it's an interesting phenomenon, and I think an makes an interesting topic for general discussion. So, thoughts?

I don't know why you discount the RIO scene with many bands having relationships with each other, there's the recent Aranis-Present-Univers Zero, One Upon A Time In Belgium collaboration. Yugen's last studio album had a bunch of Thinking Plague guests. Dave Kerman & Pierre Chevalier (Present) appeared on the 2010 Aranis album. Henry Cow & Slapp Happy famously collaborated.

CV is a good point, yes, but most important is the friendship that builds! Almost every prog musician or fan I've met are great, nice, non-aggressive, open minded and funny people, and one gets inspired by hearing others play - and lust to play together!

Additionally, I think it's a good point to remember that, in smaller creative communities, artists may find strength in numbers, frequently networking for moral support, creative inspiration, or possibly somebody to collaborate with.

You see this networking effect even more strongly in the prog scenes in smaller countries - the list of connections between prog bands in Norway, for instance, seems to more resemble a spider web than anything. :)

It's also pretty cool to see members of newer bands play in older bands, like Mikael Akerfeldt doing vocals on Steve Hackett's revisited version of Supper's Ready. Or older prog musicians playing in newer bands, like when Fripp toured with Tool.

I don't know why you discount the RIO scene with many bands having relationships with each other, there's the recent Aranis-Present-Univers Zero, One Upon A Time In Belgium collaboration. Yugen's last studio album had a bunch of Thinking Plague guests. Dave Kerman & Pierre Chevalier (Present) appeared on the 2010 Aranis album. Henry Cow & Slapp Happy famously collaborated.

Good point, I hadn't really considered that- but even more interesting would be how many connections there are between the RIO scene and the 'core' prog scene?

madmike wrote:

Additionally, I think it's a good point to remember that, in smaller creative communities, artists may find strength in numbers, frequently networking for moral support, creative inspiration, or possibly somebody to collaborate with.

You see this networking effect even more strongly in the prog scenes in smaller countries - the list of connections between prog bands in Norway, for instance, seems to more resemble a spider web than anything. :)

Most prog bands are heavily interconnected. This is nothing new and something that has been heavily remarked upon since the 70's. The one thing I will say is that it's mostly bands within a sub genre that are linked, you don't get so many links from bands in different sub genres (the three metal subs aside), though that doesnt mean there arent any.

Also, for many fans, having guest musicians featuring in an album makes it more attractive, it creates some extra curiosity as for how will the collaboration sound like, and it probably will expand the potential buyers of the album to the fans of the guests musicians bands as well, increasing the sales potential.

May also have something to do with the players wanting to branch out. Going way back to the end of the sixties, the musicians who pushed the envelope were those who dared to venture out beyond the norm. We know it as "prog", but it was just as much the huge gang bang happening between all these different music styles.

By jumping sonic ship you get to challenge your abilities and widen your musical horizon, simple as that, and who wouldn't do that in order to grow as an artist?

Edited by Guldbamsen - June 16 2013 at 07:06

“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

I keep thinking that this connection is no different than any other connection, to film folks, to literature, to the arts in general. All you are saying is that you are surprised that people know, hear, see, other things out there?

This is an issue for the top ten concerns in this board ... this article, kinda takes away the intelligence that these musicians have and are next to in a big city like New York, London, Paris, Tokyo ... but for some reason, you can only think of their ability as something that is ... not possible, or strange, or weird.

It is MORE IMPORTANT for you to find out and learn the artistic connection than it is for you to be surprised ... but somehow, the idea and concept itself, appears to not be interesting to you?

Many of us are confounded, though it is his wife, at the connection between Robert Fripp and his wife ... but we do not give her the credit she deserves as a woman, artist, and wife ... and Robert has been a part of many different things ... either because he was bored, or he wanted to try something else!

Inspiration is just that ... inspiration. And more often than not, there is no "reason" as to why it happens ... it just does!

LET IT BE

... none of the hits, none of the time ... you will, eventually, find your own art inside! Try it! www.pedrosena.com

Another aspect that hasn't been discussed yet is how these collaborations can literally introduce a listener to a new genre. For example, after hearing Ayreon's The Human Equation (symphonic rock) and being impressed by Eric Clayton's vocals, I immediately looked up the band that he was in. And thus I discovered Saviour Machine and symphonic gothic metal, a genre which I had had no contact with before. And this led me to check out other gothic metal artists like Tiamat and ...Into the Woods. Another example is Jon Anderson appearing on Kitaro's album Dream. This was my first real encounter with new age music, and it prompted me to check out other artists like Enya and Gandalf.

Another aspect that hasn't been discussed yet is how these collaborations can literally introduce a listener to a new genre. For example, after hearing Ayreon's The Human Equation (symphonic rock) and being impressed by Eric Clayton's vocals, I immediately looked up the band that he was in. And thus I discovered Saviour Machine and symphonic gothic metal, a genre which I had had no contact with before. And this led me to check out other gothic metal artists like Tiamat and ...Into the Woods. Another example is Jon Anderson appearing on Kitaro's album Dream. This was my first real encounter with new age music, and it prompted me to check out other artists like Enya and Gandalf.

The possibilities seem endless...

How nice that AYREON's HUMAN EQUATION Lead you to the wonderful ERIC CLAYTON. This makes me happy to hear.
So how do you like SAVIOUR MACHINE ?

You know what keeps me connected to the modern prog scene or 21st century prog if you will, is PA baby.
For such a long time I've been an 80's and early 90's prog dweller. PA helped me discover so much new music.
I am eternally grateful. I also really like the forum BANDCAMP recommendations here on PA. You can discover some pretty interesting bands. Modern of course. ;)

But what is my take on modernity in prog overall? I still enjoy the classics much more.
It was a different time. Music sounded different or had certain hallmark sounds that defined a generation of music. In the 80's it was the age of electric. I love the birth of clever synth. ;)

Another aspect that hasn't been discussed yet is how these collaborations can literally introduce a listener to a new genre. For example, after hearing Ayreon's The Human Equation (symphonic rock) and being impressed by Eric Clayton's vocals, I immediately looked up the band that he was in. And thus I discovered Saviour Machine and symphonic gothic metal, a genre which I had had no contact with before. And this led me to check out other gothic metal artists like Tiamat and ...Into the Woods. Another example is Jon Anderson appearing on Kitaro's album Dream. This was my first real encounter with new age music, and it prompted me to check out other artists like Enya and Gandalf.

The possibilities seem endless...

How nice that AYREON's HUMAN EQUATION Lead you to the wonderful ERIC CLAYTON. This makes me happy to hear.
So how do you like SAVIOUR MACHINE ?

I was obsessed with them enough when the limited edition picture disc came out to drop $50-60 on it

It's also fairly neat to find out members of more recent groups perform
throughout older groups, like Mikael Akerfeldt doing words on Dorrie Hackett's
revisited sort of Supper's All set. Or older prog musicians actively playing
throughout more recent rings, similar to any time Fripp toured using Instrument.

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